Jail's Bait: Parole's Victim (Book 4)

The Carthage Bluffs, known to Seattle residents as The Carthages, are jagged undersea catacombs- the final trace of the Rainier River’s route through underground tunnels that run under North Seattle, heading onward until it empties into the Gulf of Alaska, upwards of the North Pacific Ocean.  The Carthages have stood since the Great Continental Shift thousands of years ago, when the last of the great tectonic breaks on the eastern edge of North America moved the continent now called Asia eventually towards its current resting place.  The wonder of the Carthages is that though on top they are as solid as any other part of Seattle’s bedrock, they are mostly hollow- filled with gigantic caves that lie below sea level.  Usually above water, when high tide comes in they fill partway, and in times of dramatic weather the Carthages have been known to fill with the Rainier River all the way to their peaked tops…

Inside one of the smaller Carthage caves down near the water’s edge, anyone who happened to be down there during the night’s terrible storm would have been surprised to see two half-drowned figures wash up onto a small, sloping jetty, falling from the cave’s natural drain-ditch, which spills out into the southernmost tip of the Gulf of Alaska.  Upon closer inspection they would have noted the dormant figures as young, African-American men, of slim size and muscle-proportion; a red-skinned one in a ragged, once-light colored linen suit and barefoot, a darker-skinned one in a ripped tank top, jeans and hiking boots, water-stained and dark. Both men were scraped, bruised and pale from the horrific ride though the Rainier River’s underground current, remaining unconscious.  Yet the wave that washed them onto the cramped jetty happened to save their life, for had they kept floating along they would have surely drowned in the Alaskan Gulf.

 The two men quietly lay there for a time before one of them began to cough violently, turning on his side to spew forth water and phlegm until his lungs were free to breathe air.  Once he had caught his breath, the man sat up slowly and looked around- catching sight of the other figure next to him, laying motionless.

 Rah-Rah stared for a moment at Joop, noting that he was not breathing.  He kept staring at his cousin for some time, thinking, thinking-

“Aww FUKK,” he growled hoarsely as he got to his knees, reached over and grabbed Joop by the shoulder, rolling him onto his side.  Making a fist, he began to beat sternly against Joop's back, in a steady rhythm- until he heard the coughing, gurgling retch that told him Joop was reflexively spitting out the water that had gotten into his lungs.  Rah-Rah kept hitting the same spot until the coughs became dry- then he rolled Joop back over onto his back and bent over his face, preparing to do CPR.

“Wha-what da fuk do u think u doin,” Joop groaned weakly- “get from on top of my face..!”

Rah-Rah sat back then, silently relieved- but then the old scowl resurfaced.  “Never mind thankin my ass fo savin yo worthless life, punk ass nigga,” he moaned then, sitting back against the slope of the cavern.

As Joop slowly got to a sitting position, Rah-Rah looked around.  The cave walls seemed to go on and on upwards forever to disappear in a pitch darkness.  Feet away from where they wound up was the cavern’s wide entrance to the vast Bay, the waters seeming to go on forever under the vast expanse of sky that could be seen, the scent of salt air invasive. And all around the area the evidence of high tide was present- patches of lichen and ocean mold grew and grew upwards, reaching extreme high levels that made Rah-Rah's head dizzy; if the water level could reach that height…

Joop had found a place to settle into an upright position, sitting right next to Rah-Rah.  Joop looked over. “Wha happened?”

“Well, lets see,” Rah-Rah said, his whole body aching- “we fell into da Rainier Lake and I guess we got caught in a underground current, going down the Rainier River til we got washed up here; an out THERE,” he indicated, “is the way to the Gulf of Alaska and the North Pacific.”

“Got-damn, we floated dat far,” Joop whistled. “Dats almost three miles.”

“Lucky we still alive,” Rah-Rah added, looking out at the diffused cloud-lit night.

“Lucky dat YO ass is still alive,” Joop mentioned then. “U better hope dat Ray caught my daughter after you dropped her off dat cliff, dumb-ass.”

“Man you jus tossed me off a goddamn mountain,” Rah-Rah replied then; “we even.”

“Not by a long shot if my kid aint safe,” Joop frowned at Rah-Rah pointedly. “So where do ya think we are EXACTLY..?”

“The Carthages,” Rah-Rah said; “you remember that time in high school we brought those bitches here- well, not THIS cave,” he amended, looking around- “we were probably on top, right over here somewhere. The angle of the ocean looks the same, he indicated to the large mouth of the cave.

“Yeah, I remember,” Joop said then; “I remember em droppin draws real quick,” he groaned, shifting position.

“Yeah,” Rah-Rah chuckled then softly; “them was the days…”

“Yeah,” Joop agreed; “I also remember dat u dropped my daughter off a cliff,” he added then, his clenched fist suddenly flying out and cold-cocking Rah-Rah in the jaw.

Rah-Rah toppled over into the water with a SPLASH! and started spluttering his way back to the jetty. Joop sat back against the cave wall and watched Rah-Rah struggle to slide back out of the cold waters.

“DAMN IT NIGGA,” Rah-Rah said as, dripping, he pulled himself back onto the ledge, “yo we both gonna get sick, dippin back and forth in the ocean in our clothes like this, yo. DAMN,” he groaned again, getting back into his sitting position next to Joop and rubbing his jaw. “If you wanna be rememberin shyt, remember I jus saved yo punk ass life,” he said then.

“Oh? Ya think I was finished..?” Joop said then ominously- and jumped at Rah-Rah, crying out in rage as he pounded on the startled Rah-Rah mercilessly. Yet Rah-Rah responded with fury, swinging back- trading punch for punch, blow for blow as they wrestled around the small jetty, slipping into the water and getting back up, continuing their silent battle as the waters of the Bay sloshed nearby.

As time wore on the strain of falling down a waterfall and being carried though an underground river, running on high adrenaline, started to finally take its toll on the men as they started getting more and more tired with each punch, each block and parry. Suddenly they both stopped and looked at each other, heaving greatly- and by mutual silent consent, they fell back against the wall, gasping for air.

After another five minutes had passed, the pair of them sat back against the wall, exhausted and taking deep breaths.  A few minutes later they slowly looked at each other.  “Th-this is the p-p-part where w-w-we would get a 40 an b-b-break it open,” Rah-Rah said, chest heaving.

“Yeah,” Joop said between breaths, “and then I'd buss it across-s yo f-face.” He looked down at his hand then. “You Dyke Tyson cannibal-BITCH, you bit my ring off my finger when we were in mid-air,” Joop said in wonder- then kicked out at Rah-Rah once more, his heel hitting Rah-Rah’s shin. “Mar's gonna kill me if I don’t find dat shyt.”

“OWW- Look man, I know I fucked up-” Rah-Rah began, rubbing his shin.

“You know..?” Joop said then, fire in his eyes as he struggled to calm his breathing.  “Man u better know better.”

“Nigga, you da ex-con out the two of us,” Rah-Rah defended; “why don't u cut me sum slack..?”

“SLACK???” Joop said incredulously.  “Look at YO track record, u punk fuck- you got pendin charges fo murder-1, kidnappin, sexual assault, assault-n-battery, grand theft auto, DUI, drug traffickin, patricide-”

“IIGHT, iight- I get it,” Rah-Rah cut in, holding up a hand to silence Joop.

Joop ignored him. “AND da only reason you don't have dem charges on u rite now iz cause yo ass was declared mentally incompetent an spent da last ten years in a insane asylum as a vegtable.”

“So what,” Rah-Rah grinned weakly; “a nicca was bored.”

Joop reached out an grabbed Rah-Rah's ripped and water-logged wife beater, yankin him close.  “Nice ta know u got jokes,” he glared in his face.

Rah-Rah shook himself off; they scuffled again for a few seconds.  “Hol up, HOL UP!!!” Rah-Rah said then, waving his arms and sliding down the ledge a bit.  “Lemme speak.”

“Naw, Rah-Rah, let ME speak,” Joop said, interrupting him.  “I jus wanna know- WHY, yo, why you went all crazy on us like this.  Me an Mar woulda died fo yo azz, we loved you dat much, sunn.  You was our best friend outside of each other. We all did everything together from when we was kids yo.  Then you jus turned on me an sent me upstate; I never woulda been wit no record if it wasn't fo you.  What made you hate me an Mar so much..? WHY U RAPED MY NICCA??”

Rah-Rah stared at Joop for a long time, not saying anything.  Then he gave a great sigh.  “Even if you never believe dis, I regret what I did ta Mar, I know I shouldn’t want no nicca wit me dat aint thurr cause he wanna be there… I cant even begin ta tell you how wrong I felt, what I did ta Mar.”

Joop looked at him, and grunted.

Rah-Rah continued. “I felt like da third wheel with you an Mar all my life, even before yall hooked up,” Rah-Rah sighed again, and Joop reluctantly saw that this was costing Rah-Rah some pain to admit this.  “I never felt like I was one of yall, from when I was in the 5th grade, and yall was in the 3rd grade- it was like ‘Joop an Lamar, best friends against the world’.  I was there, but I wasn't there yo- maybe cause I was older an yall was the same age, I dunno.  But I always felt like whether I was around or not, yall wouldn’t care.”

“U know, dats sum real wimpy-ass bitch shyt u jus said, nigga,” Joop responded; “and anyway dat shyt you said aint true- when we was kids we felt like you protected us, when we was in school you was our older brotha, we looked up to you.  We hung on yo every word cause all we had was YOU back then, Mar aint have no other friends but me our age, an we aint hang wit no one but you, cause you was cool.  You remember when them 6th graders tried ta beat us up an you came in and got all wild on em..?  You drove em off an we was like, ‘he gave then niccas da rah-rah’ an shyt- dats when WE started callin you Rah-Rah. Bein around u we felt safe.  An our gotdamn protector turned into our worst enemy.”

Rah-Rah suddenly drew his knees up to his chest and turned his face away.  “I-I aint know dat, yo,” he said gruffly.  “I jus thought yall liked each other better an jus allowed me ta hang.  I felt left out an dat made me mad as fuk.  It jus grew over da years, I guess,” Rah-Rah admitted.

“You shoulda asked us bout it nicca,” Joop said then; “maybe things woulda been different.”

Rah-Rah was silent again for a time as the waves from outside began to crash against the jetty, echoing throughout the cavern.  “Ya know,” he said then, “seein my son again, I could tell dat Marquis turned out ta be a good man.”

“You're welcome,” Joop said abrasively.

Rah-Rah sniffed.  “I aint sayin dat you woulda been a better father than I woulda been.”

“I aint takin dat from you,” Joop grudgingly agreed.  “I know dat no matter what, you was a good father to Marquis.  He missed you a whole lot those first years.”

“An you helped keep him safe while I was… away,” Rah-Rah said, looking over at Joop.  “You, Mar an your whole family.”

“Your family, Rah-Rah,” Joop reminded him then.  “You're a Hill-man too.”

Rah-Rah thought about that.  “My cousin, huh,” he said, giving a shy smile to Joop.

Joop stared back, and nodded.  “I guess…”

They held each other's gaze one moment longer, than both settled back, closing their eyes and listening to the sounds of the waves crashing against the cave's mouth.  It wasn't until their feet began to feel cold and wet again that they realized that the crashing wave sound they absently listened to was getting louder.

Joop went still. “Rah-Rah,” he asked quietly, “what was dat they said about the Carthages back in school..?”

His cousin frowned, trying to remember. “The teachers said not ta play over here after a storm, cause the excess water drains into the caves before goin out to sea- they fill all the way up with water… and no one would think anyone would be that stupid to come here after a storm, so no one would-” Rah-Rah stopped in mid-sentence, unable to continue.

“…Come ta save you,” Joop finished it for him, staring at the water level, which was noticeably higher than they had seen it yet…